Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Honey, the number one selling honey flavored whiskey in the U.S., received quite a buzz with their latest release created by Psyop entitled Swarm. Together with Arnold Worldwide and Smuggler, Psyop developed a spot that features an unstoppable force of CG bees on the hunt for a bottle of Tennessee Honey.

The camera opens on a city street, late and empty but alive with potential, when our hero King Bee erupts through a plume of steam. He deftly navigates an energetic swarm of bees as they converge from all directions and descend into the night, dodge around corners and close in on their target — a glowing bottle of Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Honey.

Nailing down the right lighting, location and camera angles were important for maintaining a gritty feeling throughout the spot without losing the tenacity of the swarm.

“Shooting on the Warner Bros backlot allowed us a lot of control over the shots,” commented Psyop Creative Director, Laurent Ledru. “Working with Arnold and Smuggler made for a smooth production, and we were able to get what we needed in camera with the expert eye of Director of Photography, Robert Elswitt.”

The new spot was first pre-released via Twitter/Facebook and garnered more than 10 million impressions before ever hitting the TV waves.

“Swarm is an evolution of the original King Bee launch spot, we wanted the new spot to demonstrate the many fans that Tennessee Honey has acquired throughout the year,” said Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Honey Senior Brand Manager Casey Nelson. “King Bee is back with his swarm – his followers.”

Swarm has aired on NBA and NHL playoff games, late night TV, sports and lifestyle programming. Jack Honey and the Swarm TV spot will be back on air three more times this fiscal year in support of the other Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Honey program periods.

Source: Psyop

Jennifer Wolfe is Director of News & Content at Animation World Network.